4 Steps: Positive Thinking

step 3

Resolve how to deal with it in the future

This step in positive thinking may be easier said than done, but only someone in deep denial is unable to acknowledge their primary mistakes. Few people relish confrontation with another person, and arguably even fewer enjoy it or can stomach it when that other “person” is an embodiment of their past actions and mistakes. Yet, unless you look straight into your past mistakes and stare them down, you will continue to be haunted by the negative thoughts they inspire.

We generally react incredulously to people who have the self-fulfilling prophecy act down pat. In their head their train of thought is a train wreck, and it sounds like this: “I’m gonna go to the interview all confident, and the moment the person sits down and asks me why I want the job, I’ll clam up, say something cliche and stupid, his face will sink a little, then his tone of voice will get all condescending and mechanical as he goes through the motions of getting me out of there.” The aspect that's difficult to believe comes from the mere fact that life is so well-planned out. These types of thoughts only exist in the mind of the negative thinker, the person who doesn’t want the things he seems to pursue.

At the very least, you have to bend the unknown future in your favor by insisting that no matter what the past was, it does not demand to be repeated. This is a big step in learning positive thinking.

step 4

Shift your mind to something different

Once you’ve established a positive line of thinking, move ahead. In short, don’t dwell on this any longer. You risk thinking something to death, and even if you’re using positive thinking to ”think it to death,” you’re still killing it. Self-confidence and the ability to trust one’s self are invaluable qualities, but when they’re overdone, they amount to deadly self-delusion.

Consider the competent athlete. He doesn’t consider every single move and play he intends to make before executing them; he simply trusts his hands and his feet. He allows his experience and subconscious to carry his play, and if he has kinks or thorns in his game, he works them out in practice.